The Woman Behind the Puppet
Bonnie Erickson was the one who designed and built Miss Piggy back in 1974 for that early “Muppets” special. When asked who inspired the character of Miss Piggy, Erickson said that her mother used to live in North Dakota, which is where pre-famous jazz singer Peggy Lee sang on the local radio station.
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“When I first created Miss Piggy, I called her Miss Piggy Lee,” Erickson recalled, “as both a joke and an homage.” The puppet designer saw the jazz singer as a “very independent woman,” as was the puppet she created.